CHILDREN Ministries: INFANT through 5th GRADE

Children’s Small Groups

Nursery Infants and toddlers (0-2 years old) are always welcome to stay with their parents in the service. We also offer nursery care for the entirety of both morning worship services.

Preschool (3-5 years old) Early childhood is filled with curiosity and wonder. At Beacon, young children engage in spiritual seeking in a group setting with mentoring senior youth and adult guide where they develop their openness to sharing and experience the benefit of a supportive community. Their time in Chalice Children can set a pattern for the rest of their lives and bring lasting benefits.

While we are in times of physical distancing, we offer online virtual lessons that can be done by you with your children at home.   Here we offer a format that offers opportunities for deeper reflection for those who enjoy creating meaning in conversation with others, as well as hands-on projects and activities that help make concepts more concrete. 

OWL (Our Whole Lives) In addition, we offer the award-winning Our Whole Lives program -- comprehensive sexuality education curricula for people across the ages. At Beacon, it is offered every other year to our Kindergarten/1st Grade and our 4th/5th Grade students. Children must be registered at the beginning of the year for OWL and parents are required to attend an orientation and give permission for the program. For non-members, there is a fee of $300 for OWL.

Family Experience (FX) Events

At Beacon, we nurture the well-being of the entire family by offering family experiences (FX). It allows for families to have time together and to connect and have fun with other Beacon families.

Throughout the year, we hold Beacon Brunches on Sunday mornings for families of all ages and sizes to share a warm meal, reconnect and foster new connections. We offer ways to bring our Unitarian Universalist faith home or to work together on our Social Justice projects.

Every January we hold a Family Retreat at Frost Valley YMCA Retreat Center in the Catskill Mountains for a weekend of snow tubing, cross country skiing, hiking, crafting, and downtime with each other.

We also hold an annual FX event where Beacon families bring their grandparents, godparents and friends to enjoy an evening of fun and festivities. In 2019, it was entitled “Masks We Wear,” featuring our dynamic parents, our exuberant youth, and an audience of giggling children, and centering around our month’s themes of Truth and Lies.

Registration

Leadership and Funding: Our children’s program is a part of Beacon’s Lifespan Ministry and is led by the team of Dr. Tuli Patel and Jamaine Cripe.  Small groups are led mostly by trained volunteers - members of our community who contribute their presence, talent and time to our youngest Beaconnites. Each of us had an adult in our formative years who significantly impacted us. We are paying it forward. Our children’s groups are funded through the generosity of our members. We encourage families to join Beacon and to make a financial contribution to support this thriving ministry.